Ng'arua Maarifa Centre was established by ALIN, to be used by the rural communities to access; free internet, E-government services, multimedia content, online market information, publications and library, advisory services and ICT trainings.

Now she owns 60 of the
beasts, something she considers a good investment as climate change brings more
extreme weather. And as more camel milk comes on the market, “camelcinos” are
cropping up in Nairobi’s cafes, alongside the usual cappuccinos.

"Camels are the
number one thing round here right now," said Yousef, waiting at a camel
milk collection centre in the northern town of Isiolo, amid her collection of
heavy yellow jerry cans.

"The cows can't cope
with the drought," she added. But now she produces 60 liters of camel milk
a day, from about 20 long-legged “milkers”.

More extreme weather in
Kenya's arid and neglected northern rangelands – and surging demand for cattle
milk in Kenya’s cities – are leading growing numbers of the region’s nomadic
herders to see camels as a drought-safe business investment.

That has led to what
people in Isiolo call a “camel rush,” as demand outstrips supply. Prices for
both the milk and the camels that produce it are on the rise, with a good milk
camel going for between $400 and $1,000 in the region.

"I get more for my
camel milk,” explained Yousef, above the din of dozens of women getting their
camel milk tested for impurities and doing business on their phone or chatting
to friends. “I used to get 60 shillings ($0.60) per litre (for cow’s milk). Now
I get 110 shillings ($1.10)."

Piers Simpkin, a camel
expert who has studied then for over 30 years and runs his own milking business
in Elmenteita, about 130km from the capital, said that he has seen “a huge
change in the range of camel keeping” in recent years.

Herds are growing fastest
among the Maasai tribe in southern Kenya, where people have traditionally only
kept cows, he said, but are growing in other places as well.

With 60 percent of the
world's camels, East Africa produces most of the world’s camel milk, almost all
of which is consumed domestically.

Demand for the milk in
the capital Nairobi – where cafes in the bustling business district serve
"camelcinos" (a cappuccino made with camel milk) – is so high that it
has spawned a booming camel milk industry in the neighbouring Kajiado county.

Further north, the surge
in camel herding is coming as families watch a warming world turn grasslands to
dust and bring a traditional livestock industry to its knees.

"Drought can kill
between 50 and 80 percent of cattle herds,” said Simpkin. “At the same time,
you'll probably only get a 10 to16 percent mortality in camel herds."

He has been training
herders on the best camel milking practices in the counties of Samburu and
Turkana for years, he said. A camel there, he said, can produce four to five
times the volume of milk as a local cow.

While demand for camel
milk is growing, the supply of quality product is still low. In Kenya, yearly
production is estimated at around 1 million metric tonnes, worth about 54
billion shillings, or $534 million.

But a lack of government
interest or investment in camel milk, which is still not recognised under
Kenya's dairy act, has hampered efforts to create industry standards or an
export market.

"The demand is so
large locally, there probably won't be enough for export", said Simpkin.
"I could sell 10 times as much in the local town nearest to where I'm
producing the milk," he added.

Kenya today has triple
the number of camels it did in 2005 – when Marbach started his business – or
around 3 million, with the surge largely a response to unpredictable weather
patterns.

"The weather has
seriously changed – the rains are no longer predictable," he said.

COLD MILK, HOT BUSINESS

Since 2007, Dutch development agency SNV has
been working with women in Isiolo to try to commercialise the local camel milk
industry and boost communities' resilience to climate change.

SNV and partners helped
around 100 women form a camel milk cooperative in 2010. Using about $200,000 in
donor money, they built freezers to chill milk, installed a 3,000-litre cooling
tank and set up milk testing equipment.

Livestock specialists
have also trained women in nearby communities on milking hygiene and
camel-keeping, and linked them to nearby markets to get better prices.

The cooperative has
increased its production sixfold from 2008 – and now produces 3,000 litres of
camel milk a day.

The women's profits also
have increased by a third since 2014, even as operating costs have dropped by
more than 40 percent.

Welcome Message

You are on the Ngarua Maarifa Centre's Blog. This is a community based I.C.T hub, that gives the communities of Ng'arua a platform to express themselves. And share their Knowledge and experiences with the rest of the world.